Gregg Allman

Gregg Allman

Gregg Allman is one of rock’s most acclaimed and beloved icons, possessing a distinctively soulful voice and singular songwriting ability that resonate through a musical career that spans nearly half a century. Growing up in Daytona Beach, Florida, Gregg and his older brother Duane shared a passion for music and a deep affinity for the blues, hitting the road with their band the Allman Joys (later known as the Hour Glass) as soon as Gregg graduated from high school.

After some unhappy early brushes with the recording industry and a frustrating stint in Los Angeles, Gregg and Duane returned to their home state in 1969 and formed the Allman Brothers Band, which quickly emerged as one of America’s most original and influential musical outfits, releasing such albums as The Allman Brothers Band, Idlewild South and the breakthrough 1971 live release At Fillmore East.

The Allman Brothers Band suffered a devastating blow when Duane Allman was killed in a motorcycle accident in October 1971. Despite the loss of his brother and the group’s original driving force, Gregg and his bandmates rallied, driving the Allman Brothers Band to even greater success with the albums Eat A Peach and Brothers and Sisters. In 1973, Gregg branched out into a solo career with the well-received Laid Back, which he supported with an elaborate tour on which he was accompanied by a 14-person backup band.

In the decades that followed, Gregg has remained a dynamic and prolific musical force, both with the Allman Brothers Band and as a solo artist. The group experienced a major resurgence in the 1990s, and in the years since has maintained its position as America’s foremost Southern rock band and rock’s greatest improvisational ensemble. Gregg, meanwhile, has continued to win acclaim for such acclaimed solo releases as I’m No Angel, Searching for Simplicity and his 2011 Rounder Records debut, the Grammy-nominated Low Country Blues.

Gregg, along with the Allman Brothers Band, was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of fame in 1995. At the 54th Annual Grammy Awards in 2012, the group was honored with a prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award. The same year, Gregg’s critically acclaimed tell-all memoir, My Cross to Bear, spent several weeks as a New York Times Bestseller.